Passing of the Torch – Darkflamewolf and Lucario389 Leaving

It’s been a fun 8 years.

Forgive this long-winded post, but I felt I should illuminate some ZNN history behind the scenes as both Lucario389 and I leave ZNN after being leaders for so long within it. There have been some who have asked why are we stepping down when we’re this close to Zootopia 2’s release? The simple reason? Life. Both Lucario389 and I have found other passions and are embarking on new endeavors that are crowding out our time for this wonderful franchise. We needed to pass the torch to capable hands, but not first without saying goodbye. So, as I leave, I’ll be giving you a peek ‘behind the curtain’ as they say.

Before I begin, I must thank Berserker88 – author of Borne to be Wilde. It was him that stepped up to the plate when I sent a call out on TV Tropes for a beta reader for my then Death Becomes You fanfic. (Unfinished sadly, as of today – my original book series idea crowded it out.) He loved it and saw I might be a good fit for the Abyss Gazers (the fanfic team of ZNN) and pitched my inclusion to Julius (Andy Lagopus). At the time, Moonwolf and Shadow9692 were leaders alongside Julius at this time. After an interview and hazing initiation, I was aboard the ZNN team – helping to read fanfics and approve or disapprove according to a rough, but still usable written guideline.

And so it was for almost a year before I saw the cracks in the structure of ZNN. I saw how I could make it more efficient. I proposed the idea of a Team Lead to guide and govern the Abyss Gazers and asked to rewrite the fanfic guidelines to something more concrete and less vague. After given the go-ahead by Julius, I put my plan into action and with the help of another (forgive me, I’ve forgotten your name), we crafted a new and improved spreadsheet of fanfic tracking which the Team Lead had control over and oversight. The Abyss Gazers became such a fantastic team and my improvements expedited the whole process. It was an excellent proof of concept that there was a cause to expand this Team Lead structure to the rest of the teams.

It was here when tragedy struck – Moonwolf and Shadow9692 were leaving ZNN. Life had called and they couldn’t ignore it any longer. ZNN was in a crisis with a huge power vacuum up top and the internal structure of ZNN was not really solid. At this point, AgentExeider, Lucario389 and I had been contributing a lot within ZNN, and offering and implementing great suggestions to improve the organization. It was here we made a pitch to Julius to have us split the leadership responsibilities between the four of us. Trusting the lot of us at this point, he swiftly agreed.

How it ended up was:
– I was in charge of the fan and original post content. Stuff that was directly related to Zootopia creative works – such as fanfics, fan art, comics, translations, news reports, etc.
– Lucario389 was in charge of ZNN generated content, this was ZNN interviews, ZNN merch reviews, and later on the podcasts – special content made by us within ZNN.
– Agent was then in charge of the security and backend of the website and how it functioned/ran – as well as all the Social Butterflies who managed each platform (Twitter, Instagram, etc.). His duties would later extend to the ZNN community discord and managing the security and bots there as well as providing a mod training program.

It was here the first major restructuring of ZNN happened. I came up with a plan to have a three-tiered structure to the organization. The Leaders would oversee their respective sections to make sure content flowed consistently, the Team Leads fell under each of them and managed their teams to include the training of new members, and finally, the individual members of each team did the posts and write-ups of what gets put onto the website. I had gathered everyone together in a huge, massive voice chat and broke it down. It worked. ZNN was functioning better than ever because of my gameplan.

It was during this time that we wanted to expand the reach of ZNN and finally create a Discord server of our own to support our growing community under our website. Seeing as I was experienced in creating several servers already, I took it upon myself to create the server you all know and love, right down to the cute Zootopia-inspired names for each section. I helped setup the mod structure and the basic mod guidelines, roles and training that would later be expanded upon by AgentExeider when he took over later on. The community was buzzing and things started to look even brighter for the future of ZNN.

But as all things rise, they must also fall. The community hit a bit of a slump after a year or so with zero news on any Zootopia content. There was a feeling of being forgotten by Disney. Articles started to slow and people were starting to burn out. It was here, due to some unfortunate circumstances we also had to split leadership responsibilities between the four of us.
– I was owner of the ZNN community discord.
– Lucario389 was owner of ZNN Internal staff discord.
– AgentExeider was owner of the Website and backend bot functions.
– Julius was figurehead and the one who provided the money for this crazy train to continue to exist.
We called it the separation of powers – and it helped in several instances where if one of us went under, instead of losing everything, we only lost that one branch which could be easily recovered over time. (This is also detailed publicly in one of the earliest community server announcements.)

A second restructure was done around this time as ZNN moved ahead into what was known as ‘the dormant phase.’ Putting out posts at a less frequent pace (where before it was multiple per day, every day – except Sunday). This worked, but a year later, I had to facilitate a third restructure to include hiring new members. We felt bad as leaders to hire new folks as those who burnt out during this period left – we had nothing of substance or value for the new folks to report on or work to get busy on. It was rough on all of us. Many might even misconstrue that the leaders did nothing due to this period – but it was precisely because of us and the work we did that there was so little to do. We refined the ZNN posting process so well amongst the teams that they didn’t need any oversight or managing. ZNN was a well-oiled machine, and I couldn’t be prouder of everyone in it!

At long last, Zootopia+ on Disney+ came out and now more recently, news of Zootopia 2. The community feels like it is on the upswing once more – and we couldn’t be happier. Sadly, my life and Lucario389’s was getting busier and we could both see that once Zootopia 2 dropped, we would not be able to keep up with the responsibilities and duties we once had when ZNN was in full operation. So, it was here, at this juncture, that we decided it best to hang up our hats and pass our leadership roles to worthy and motivated folks. Lucario389 left in early October, but I elected to stay behind long enough to interview new Leader candidates and vote on who would replace us.

For those curious, please give a warm welcome to:
– Dusty: He is taking over my leadership role and is moving on from his ZPD mod position to fulfill this new duty to ZNN.
– BlueberryCarrots: He is taking over Lucario389’s leadership role.
Wish them luck on their new jobs within ZNN! I know they’ll both do great!

Moving forward – many probably won’t ever know what we did to keep ZNN alive during a time when it was on the verge of failing several times over these past 8 years. We fought hard to keep things going behind the scenes so nobody would know the struggles we faced. It wasn’t our place to complain or moan about it publicly – it was our place to come up with solutions and resolve the problems so you could continue to enjoy ZNN. Now, at long last, I’m writing this almost like a sort of ZNN memoir of my time here. It will always hold a special place in my heart, and I thank Berserker88 and of course, Julius, for giving me the trust, the opportunity and the freedom to do what needed doing.

You guys are the best, and as I fade in obscurity after I step down, don’t be afraid to say hi to me as I wander the ZNN community discord server from time to time! I’d be more than happy to engage!

Thanks ZNN! Thank you ZNN community! It’s been fun – and as always: Try everything!